Can't install security updates, please help.

[yellow]

Well, you have a couple options here.

What should be a symbolic link is instead a file. A VERY large file. The lack of this symbolic link could be what is causing your troubles (. Now, it's possible that this happened purely by accident. IMO, improbable, but possible. But it could be that your Mac was hacked/cracked/owned and is being used for nefarious purposes. This might be slightly alarmist, as I would hope that a hacker wouldn't do something as stupid as remove the /tmp symlink and replace it with a file. So, there's probably a rational explaination. Ultimately, what you do about all this is up to you. You can

1) back up your data, erase the drive, and reinstall OSX and everything else, make sure you have strong passwords. This is the only way to truely ensure that your Mac is "clean".

2) remove that big ass file and recreate the symlink, and keep going.

Either way, I would start by changing all the passwords on your box as a precaution. Make sure you change them to strong passwords. If you need some ideas on how to make a strong, yet memorable password, let me know.

 

[ScotRobson]

remove that big ass file and recreate the symlink, and keep going.

Could you advise me how to do this? How do i know what the file is? and recreate the symlink means nothing to me - i'm actually not great on computers - today was the first time ive used the terminal.

Either way, I would start by changing all the passwords on your box as a precaution. Make sure you change them to strong passwords. If you need some ideas on how to make a strong, yet memorable password, let me know.

yes please - feel free to IM me on ichat at my .mac name scotrobson

Do you think this could be why I am having problems logging into my iDisk as mentioned in my other thread which i linked to at the start of this one?

Thanks for all your help
Scot

 

[yellow]

Could you advise me how to do this? How do i know what the file is? and recreate the symlink means nothing to me - i'm actually not great on computers - today was the first time ive used the terminal.

You could use a text editor to try and look inside that file, but I think ultimately that won't lead you very far if you're not that familiar with computers. You should probably just copy and paste the following commands one at a time, to ensure that they aren't typed in incorrectly:

sudo rm -f /tmp

Enter your admin password. The sudo makes the following command run as the root user. The rm is to remove the file. The -f tells it not to complain to you about whether you really want to remove it.

sudo ln -s /private/tmp /tmp

The sudo makes the following command run as the root user. The ln is to make a link, linking one file/directory to another one, like an alias. The -s tells ln to make it a symbolic link, used for directories. Then we tell it the source directory, and the destination "directory".

It would be prudent to restart the computer then, this will let anything looking for /tmp find it again. After rebooting and logging in, check /tmp out.

ls -laF /tmp

It should look something like this:

yellow% ls -laF /tmp
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin  11 11 Aug 20:36 /tmp@ -> private/tmp

Here's a link to "How to create a strong password".

 

[ScotRobson]

Is the big file something that I have put there? Will it be something I have downloaded do you think? I'm just a little worried about what i am deleting. Or is it something that should really not be there?

 

[yellow]

Or is it something that should really not be there?

It should not be there. /tmp is supposed to be a symlink (symbolic link) to /private/tmp/. Not an 800+MB file. Whatever is it, it should not be. I have no idea if it's something you've done, something an app has incorectly done or what. All I can tell you is that it should not be.

 

[ScotRobson]

It should not be there. /tmp is supposed to be a symlink (symbolic link) to /private/tmp/. Not an 800+MB file. Whatever is it, it should not be. I have no idea if it's something you've done, something an app has incorectly done or what. All I can tell you is that it should not be.

Ok, many thanks - this was my result

SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ sudo rm -f /tmp
Password:
SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ sudo ln -s /private/tmp /tmp
SCOT-ROBSONs-Computer:~ srobson$ ls -laF /tmp
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 12 25 Sep 16:09 /tmp@ -> /private/tmp

I have changed my system password, my .mac account password and both my email passwords that use mail - I am unable to change the p/w for my router though as it is not accepting my old one!

I decided to go for option 2 and change my passwords as I am getting a new mac in a couple of weeks. Once that has arrived and I have transfered my files to the new one (music, pics etc) I will reinstall this one.

Does that sound ok?

 

[yellow]

Yep. Go ahead and try to do your Software Update now, it better work!

 

[ScotRobson]

Yep. Go ahead and try to do your Software Update now, it better work!

Your a magician! Both updates done now. Just gonna reboot

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk me through all of this. I really appreciate it.

Scot

 

[ScotRobson]

Yep. Go ahead and try to do your Software Update now, it better work!

You have also solved another problem for me! Virex was telling me I didnt have enough space to download the eupdate and now that has worked too!

 

[ScotRobson]

Ooooooooooooh and my iDisk problem is now solved!

I'm so happy